Queen Caroline is wearing state dress, edged with ermine embellished with jewels. This miniature, together with its companion portrait (RCIN 421094) of King George II, was given to Queen Victoria in 1858. It is probably based on Joseph Highmore's (1692-1780) portrait of the Queen of which John Faber (c.1695-1756), made a mezzotint engraving around 1731. George Vertue, the engraver and antiquary, noted how Highmore, unable to obtain sittings from the King and Queen, used portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller supplemented by his own drawings done 'by stealth first on paper at Several Views and afterwards by Memory in some parts'.

Caroline of Ansbach married George Augustus, the Electoral Prince of Hanover, the future George II, in 1705. She was seen as a protestant heroine in Britain as she had earlier turned down marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor because she could not bring herself to convert to Catholicism. When he met her, George was immediately struck with her 'good character' and 'would not think of anybody else after her' according to the British envoy at the time. When her father-in-law was proclaimed King of Britain, the whole family moved to England but she had to leave behind her seven-year-old son, Frederick, as the representative of the dynasty in Hanover. One contemporary commentator noted that her 'power was unrivalled and unbounded' and that 'she directed everything … either at home or abroad'.

The identity of the miniaturist is unknown.

This miniature and its companion were both hung from small mahogany and brass stands. The backs of the lockets are engraved: My two enamelled Miniature Portraits of the Late King George the second and his Queen Caroline I give to Her Majesty Queen Victoria hoping she may be graciously pleased to accept them / Caroline Elizabeth Leacroft / Southwell Nottingham / 13 September 1858.